The Best Day and Time to Send a Proposal
Backed by Data From 8,000+ Real Proposals
If you want your proposal opened quickly, send it Monday through Wednesday and follow up around day three. That is not a hunch. We analyzed more than 8,000 real proposals sent through DIGIDECK, and the day you hit send has a measurable effect on how fast, and whether, your proposal gets opened.
Here is what the data shows and how to use it:
The Short Answer
Best days to send
Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Proposals sent early in the week get opened nearly twice as fast as ones sent Thursday or Friday.
When to follow up
Around day three. The typical proposal is first opened about 52 hours after it is sent.
The deadline that matters
If a proposal is not opened within seven days, it usually never will be.
Why Monday Through Wednesday Wins
When you send a proposal on a Thursday or Friday, it sits. On average it takes roughly three days to get its first open, because it lands right as your buyer is wrapping up their week and heading into the weekend.
Send that same proposal on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday and the first open comes in about half the time. The buyer is at their desk, in work mode, and moving through their inbox. Same proposal, same buyer, very different speed to open, decided entirely by the day you clicked send.
What Actually Happens After "Send"?
Most sellers have no idea what happens to a proposal once it leaves their outbox. The data fills in the gap:
26% are never opened
Not once, by anyone.
The median first open is about 52 hrs
Roughly two days after you send.
Most opens happen early
23% are opened within 4 hours, 38% within 24 hours, and 71% within 7 days.
In other words, the ones that get opened tend to get opened early. If yours has not been opened after a couple of days, sending it earlier in the week and following up sooner both help pull that open forward.
The Seven-Day Window
Here is the stat that should change how you prioritize your pipeline: of all the proposals that ever get opened, 71% are opened within seven days. Once you cross that seven-day mark with no open, the odds it happens at all drop sharply.
That makes day seven a natural decision point. If a proposal has gone quiet by then, it is usually time to either re-engage with a new angle or move that deal down your list, instead of waiting on a reply that statistically is not coming.
When to Follow Up
Timing your follow-up is just as important as timing your send.
Follow up around day three.
Since the typical first open lands near the 52-hour mark, a day-three nudge often reaches buyers right as they are opening it, or gives the ones who have not opened it a reason to.
Follow up again the moment they open it.
In our data, a second visit typically comes about 11 hours after the first open. That window, right after someone first engages, is when your proposal is top of mind. If you can see the open happen and reach out the same day, you are following up on real interest instead of guessing.
This is where knowing what happens after you send changes everything. Instead of blasting the same “just checking in” email to everyone a week later, you follow up on the people actually engaging, at the moment they are engaging.
Why Send Timing Matters
A proposal usually is not read by one person, and it usually is not read in full. Most proposals are opened by a committee of several people, and readers move through only a handful of slides before deciding whether to keep going. You get one short, early window of attention.
That is exactly why the send and the follow-up have to be timed well. You cannot afford to lose two or three days to a Friday send when the whole decision often happens in the first week.
Methodology
This analysis is based on real proposal activity tracked inside DIGIDECK from 2018 through 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Proposals sent early in the week are opened about twice as fast as those sent on Thursday or Friday.
It is the slowest day to get opened. A proposal sent Thursday or Friday takes roughly three days on average to get its first open, versus about half that time earlier in the week. If you can wait until Monday, you will usually get read faster.
Around day three. The typical proposal is first opened about 52 hours after it is sent, so a day-three follow-up tends to land right as buyers are engaging. Follow up again the same day they open it.
The median first open is about 52 hours. About 23% are opened within four hours and 38% within 24 hours.
Rarely. 71% of all proposals that ever get opened are opened within seven days. After that, the odds drop sharply, so day seven is a good point to change your approach or reprioritize.
See What Happens After You Send
Every stat above comes from proposals sent through DIGIDECK, the only platform that shows you who opened your proposal, what they read, and when. We took a deeper look at this data in our recent webinar, uncovering key trends and takeaways around how buyers engage with proposals. Watch the full replay for the complete breakdown!